Sen. Levin Doesn't Have 'Any Basis' To Believe Waterboarding Was Used To Track Bin Laden

(CNSNews.com) - Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said, he doesn’t have “any basis” to believe that waterboarding techniques led to the information that allowed U.S. officials to track down Osama bin Laden.

At a press conference yesterday, Levin was asked a question about his past criticism of methods of interrogation and the techniques used to generate the leads that led to Osama bin Laden, Levin said, “ I don’t have any basis to believe that any leads here were produced here by illegal activities on our part. I have no basis to know that.”

Sen. Carl Levin (AP Photo)

Levin has been critical of the Bush administration’s use of waterboarding in the past, saying that it constitutes torture and is illegal.

The Senator's response comes despite reports that the person who provided the CIA with the name of Osama bin Laden’s personal courier, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, was repeatedly subjected to waterboarding and stress positions.

While appearing on ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ on Fox News yesterday, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) confirmed those reports saying, “ We obtained that information through waterboarding.”

King then elaborated,“It came from an overseas prison where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was being interrogated and waterboarding was used and it was during the interrogation of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed through waterboarding that this information was learned.”